Abunayyan, Toray launch JV in water, wastewater treatment technologies

With the support of Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Riyadh-headquartered Abunayyan Holding and Toray Industries, Inc., headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo have successfully launched Toray Membrane Middle East LLC (TMME), a joint venture in water and wastewater treatment technologies in Dammam.
The new TMME, established with a projected investment of over SR300 million ($80 million/8.2 billion yen) with investments from Toray’s subsidiary Toray Membrane Europe AG, will manufacture and sell water treatment membranes in addition to providing technical services.
TMME plans to construct a world scale production factory by applying Toray’s production technology and global quality control standards. The factory will be located in Dammam 3rd Industrial City, and will begin production of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane elements beginning in 2015.
By adding Saudi Arabia (TMME) to its current operational manufacturing bases in Japan (Toray Ehime Plant), California (Toray Membrane USA) and Beijing (Toray Blue Star Membrane), Toray will have four manufacturing bases for the RO membrane elements.
As Toray continues to challenge the solution to global water issues, rising to the challenge of securing an outstanding future for Saudi Arabia, Abunayyan Holding continues to focus on how modern technology involving innovative design and engineering can utilize water and energy resources most economically and beneficially.
Abunayyan Holding is a group of national strategic business units (SBUs) that provide power and water desalination technologies and has set strategic goals to become the leading corporation in providing scientific and strategic power and water solutions to its customers in the Kingdom and expanding into the MENA region as well.
As Saudi corporations face the challenge and demands of globalization, the experience Abunayyan Holding has gained over the last 60 years together with its international business partners enables it to compete effectively throughout the Arab world.
With the establishment of the TMME, Toray and Abunayyan Holding aim to respond to the significant scale and rapid growing demand in the Middle East and North African markets by leveraging a powerful sales network, high quality products and superior technical service. At the same time, the companies are determined to establish a strong presence as the leading company in the water treatment membrane field in this region. TMME will form part of Toray’s expertise in global membrane sales and service.
Global water shortages, the continued need for the conservation of our water resources, and in response to essential environmental considerations, the global RO membrane market has expanded tremendously. In the Middle East and North Africa, demand from large-scale seawater desalination projects and wastewater recycling applications are expected to increase substantially in order to tackle the water shortage in this region, putting TMME ahead of the game.